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Criminological characteristics of sexual assault perpetrators: a Tunisian study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 July 2023

A. Chamseddine ,
N. Charfi ,
O. Bouattour ,
R. Feki ,
I. Gassara ,
N. Smaoui ,
S. Omri ,
L. Zouari ,
J. Ben Thabet  and
M. Maâlej Bouali
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A. Chamseddine*
Affiliation:
Psychiatry C, Hedi Chaker Hospital in Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia
N. Charfi
Affiliation:
Psychiatry C, Hedi Chaker Hospital in Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia
O. Bouattour
Affiliation:
Psychiatry C, Hedi Chaker Hospital in Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia
R. Feki
Affiliation:
Psychiatry C, Hedi Chaker Hospital in Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia
I. Gassara
Affiliation:
Psychiatry C, Hedi Chaker Hospital in Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia
N. Smaoui
Affiliation:
Psychiatry C, Hedi Chaker Hospital in Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia
S. Omri
Affiliation:
Psychiatry C, Hedi Chaker Hospital in Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia
L. Zouari
Affiliation:
Psychiatry C, Hedi Chaker Hospital in Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia
J. Ben Thabet
Affiliation:
Psychiatry C, Hedi Chaker Hospital in Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia
M. Maâlej Bouali
Affiliation:
Psychiatry C, Hedi Chaker Hospital in Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia
M. Maâlej
Affiliation:
Psychiatry C, Hedi Chaker Hospital in Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

In Tunisia, Sexual assaults constitute a pervasive problem that concerns the health care system and the country’s judicial authorities alike.

Objectives

The aims of our study were to estimate the incidence of sexual assault encountered in the context of forensic psychiatric assessment and to assess the criminological profile of sexual assault perpetrators.

Methods

We conducted a retrospective study of a series of sexual assault perpetrators examined in a forensic psychiatric assessment in the psychiatry C department at Hedi Chaker university Hospital in Sfax, from January 2010 to December 2021.

Results

Over the period of 11 years (2010 to 2021), we collected 374 forensic psychiatric assessment files. Among them, 49 were those of sexual assaults (13.10%). It was a rape assault in 54.4% of cases. Aggravating circumstances have been noted in 87% of cases. These were mainly assaults on minors (54.3%) and assaults associated with physical violence (38.4%).

The victim gender was female in 63% of cases, with an average age of 21 years 9 months. and was among the relatives of the sexual assault perpetrator in 28.3% of cases.

Conclusions

Rape seems to represent a non-negligible proportion of the offenses motivating a forensic psychiatric assessment in Tunisia. Sexual assaults against minors are frequent, despite undeniable under-reporting.

Disclosure of Interest

None Declared

Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 66 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 31st European Congress of Psychiatry , March 2023 , pp. S879 - S880
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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